In a press release, Richardson said policies to jump-start small business growth were the key to funding the state’s education system.

“We need a leader who understands that creating an economic environment where small businesses and young entrepreneurs can flourish will lead to family-wage jobs, a world-class education for our students and sensible programs to help our most vulnerable citizens,” Richardson said. “It’s time to change Oregon’s course.”

Speculation about Richardson entering the race has been rampant in recent weeks. Yesterday, Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, told Facebook followers that a “great individual” would announce their bid for Governor today, including a link to Richardson’s latest newsletter.

“This is a individual we can all be excited about and work for to be our leader!!” Esquivel wrote on Facebook.

Richardson, 63, was first elected to the Oregon Legislature in 2002. Since then he has served on legislative budget committees, including as a co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Services in 2005, often casting a skeptical eye on state spending.

During this year’s legislative session, Richardson kept up his criticism of state spending, focusing on the Public Employees Retirement System’s rising cost to local and state government.

“Keeping up with growing PERS costs is like filling sandbags against a rising sea of red ink,” Richardson said in an op-ed published in The Oregonian earlier this year.

Richardson hasn’t shied away from the spotlight. Comments he made shortly after a deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December captured national attention.

"If I had been a teacher or the principal at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and if the school district did not preclude me from having access to a firearm, either by concealed carry or locked in my desk, most of the murdered children would still be alive, and the gunman would still be dead, and not by suicide," Richardson said at the time.

While speculation about Richardson has simmered, many political observers assume Kitzhaber will announce a run for re-election. If he does, Richardson would face an uphill battle in a statewide election focused on Portland’s suburbs, according to Jim Moore, a political science professor at Pacific University.

“Richardson would have to win Clackamas and Washington Counties to win the election,” Moore said.

Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Vic Atiyeh won a second term of office in 1982, but in 2010 former Portland Trailblazer Chris Dudley got close. Dudley won 48 percent of votes and won Clackamas County. But Kitzhaber prevailed with 49 percent, winning Washington and Multnomah Counties.

Moore said Richardson’s conservative stances on social issues could make recreating those results difficult in a match-up with Kitzhaber.

“Dudley positioned himself in the political center,” Moore said. “Richardson is a strong conservative on social issues—he cannot be portrayed as a moderate, even with his work to build solutions in the 2013 session.”

But the first step in the campaign is for Richardson is to introduce himself to voters.

He’s doing that today with three events scheduled throughout the state. He kicked off the campaign at the Central Point War Memorial and will hold events at 10:30 a.m. at Murphy Plywood in Eugene, at 12:30 p.m. at Pioneer Park in Bend and at 4:30 p.m. at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

“It's time we start serving the people of Oregon better,” Richardson said in his release. “We are stronger when we work together."